Hot Pink Is the New Purple at Santaluz’s Revamped Cavaillon

It ain’t like it used to be, back when food information was confined almost solely to encyclopedia-like cookbooks and a half hour of Julia Child on the tube. Now there are tons of easy-to-tap sources of culinary education.

I’ve spent many years combing through these sources to learn about the world’s ingredients, yet there’s nary a day that I don’t learn something new. My latest discovery came when checking out new menu items at the recently reconcepted Cavaillon in North County’s Santaluz community.

A scallop appetizer there features a purple cauliflower purée that comes across a tad grayish on the plate. It’s not the most appetizing hue, as a good deal of the vegetable’s once-potent vibrancy has been diminished by the cooking process. But chef/owner Michael von Euw and his kitchen colleagues have discovered a way to change that: adding drops of lemon juice to the cauliflower causes it to instantly turn neon pink. I’d never seen that before, and like others in the dining room, found this trick to have great ooh-aah appeal.

Unfortunately, the lemon juice really had no place in the overall composition of the dish, but at least it provided a nice parlor trick that I…and now you…can employ with dishes at home.